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I've been lurking around on this site for the past 6 months and I truly think this is the best forum out there. That's why I desperately need your help!!

I just submitted my Stern application without realizing that on the header of my optional essay, I have "UCLA Anderson" written down. I basically reused the same optional essay for every school I applied to.

It's very obvious from my other 3 essays that they were written specifically with Stern in mind, but I'm freaking out now due to this.

Do you guys have any suggestions on what I can do to recover from this mistake? Should I contact the admissions folks? I appreciate your help.

if you've submitted already, there's nothing much you can do now. Yes it looks bad, but it's probably not ding-worthy. Schools know that you apply to other programs, so even if NYU knows that you are applying to UCLA, if you're a great candidate and the rest of your app is awesome, they will still accept you.

There is the off chance that you can tell them to release your app and you apply in R2...however i don't think that's worth it for a number of reasons (chance in R2 is a bit lower, what if they read your app already, etc etc)

On the same note...i NEVER check my app after I hit the submit button...i know it sounds crazy..but i feel that even if i find a mistake , there's nothig i can do about it so why give myself the extra mental anguish? So i just hit submit and pray i didn't make any mistakes.

What do you think will happen if i contact my credit card company and ask them to put a hold on the charge to STern? I just submitted my application an hour ago, so this could be a possibility you think?

If that doesnt work, should i just call the folks at stern and tell them in person ? I'm hoping that since this was an optional essay, that they'll understand that a lot of applicants reuse the essay for every school that they apply for.

I really don't think you should mess with the credit card stuff...that will just get messy and if they find out somehow it would be bad. I would say just leave it, and don't worry about it. It's not the end of the world. I've heard of people doing the same thing and still get into top schools. If they like you, they will accept you. It's a bad mistake, but you just gotta move on.

So if you just applied now, then its R2 already if i am correct? Then definitely don't even try to retrieve it, cuz you wouldn't want them to delay it to R3.

If you call and ask the question its going to be extremely easy to figure out. Every school talks about this happening, once or twice a round. I think usually its good or a laugh. At least your is in the optional essay which can be used for any school's essay. It would be bad if it was for your why this school essay.

Personally I wouldn't call them, there is nothing you can do. They will just tell you not to worry about it. I read a chat transcript from I believe Stanford where they said that this isn't something that will keep you out...if you were going to get in you still will, if you get dinged that was going to happen anyways.

Moral of the story though is don't look at your essays after you submit them. I know its hard but its way better than agonizing over something like this. At least wait until the next round.

Seriously, don't worry about it. An old coworker of mine did the exact same thing a few years back, practically had a nervous breakdown over it, and still got into Harvard. So it won't hurt your chances, since it wasn't a school-specific essay. However, when they do let you in, expect a lot of ribbing, at least initially! _________________